Mine is as tight as yours. With cover off, spray lubricant into housing. Bump engine over. lay down in port compartment. Grab lowest impeller fin with small vice grips. Shake while pulling. It will come out like butter. Just don't over tighten brass screw and snap it

So after try to move the muffler around and it starting to make crunching noises, I just decided to pull the raw water pump.

For anyone that is interested, it is 3 allen screws bolts to the crankshaft, and then it comes out.

Once it's out, you replace the impeller, and put it back together.

As an engineer, I would like to get a hold of the guy at mastercraft designed for engine to boat integration, and strangle him.

Classic boat engineering. Design it so it's easy to assemble at the factory, but without regard to accomplishing subsequent maintenance items. One would like to think that an expensive boat like MasterCraft would be designed smarter, but it ain't so.

Mine is as tight as yours. With cover off, spray lubricant into housing. Bump engine over. lay down in port compartment. Grab lowest impeller fin with small vice grips. Shake while pulling. It will come out like butter. Just don't over tighten brass screw and snap it

^^this is exactly what I do, but I use angled needle nose pliers to pull the old impeller out.
Soak the old one with dish soap, and soak the new one also and it will slide right in.

ditto! except I just spray a little wd40 and bump the starter with the lanyard off. pulls right out.

I would suggest changing to windex window cleaner. I think the seal in the back of the pump housing can be damage over time by petroleum based products. The windex is just as slippery as the wd. I also use the windex to install the new one.